Families and friends learn how to better understand the dilemma faced by military couples and how to help them cope. Explore the interconnectivity of critical issues many military families are confronted with. Consider practical solutions to one of the most crucial threats facing relationships in the military and potentially the world. Learn how to protect your relationship from extramarital affairs while maintaining commitment to your spouse. Learn how to successfully survive the devastation associated with family separation. Learn how to use a necessary tool for any couple to strengthen their relationship during short- and long-term times of separation. Explore the painful journey of many families. Help yourself understand the extreme difficulties of family separation; assist others with simple practical principles in coping and successfully surviving the experience. Learn how to help others avoid pitfalls that can ruin their relationship.

A Beacon of Hope

By Reveral L. Yeargin

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Reveral L. Yeargin
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4697-3718-8

Contents

"A Beacon of Hope!"...........................................1"15, 31, 47, 61"..............................................3"16, 26, 36, 46"..............................................5"365".........................................................7"An Ocean Apart"..............................................9"A Special Touch".............................................13"A String of Pearls"..........................................15"A White Chocolate Rose"......................................17"All Men to the Front!".......................................19"Angels Unaware!".............................................22"Baby Boy!"...................................................24"Bless You Forever!"..........................................25"Cassi".......................................................27"Change the Atmosphere".......................................29"Children of the Metro".......................................31"Christmas in the Heavens"....................................34"Cloudy Skies"................................................36"Could You Pray For Me?"......................................39"Did You Dream Of Me?" Pt1....................................41"Don't Smoke In Here!"........................................44"Draw me a picture"...........................................46"Father's Day"................................................48"Four Minus One!"Pt1..........................................50"God Can Give Birth At Anytime!"..............................55"Going Through!"..............................................57"Great Things Should Happen To You!"..........................59"Hebrews Eleven, KJV".........................................63"Here's A Shovel!"............................................66"How Did You Meet Your Spouse?"...............................69"I Have A Lot On My Mind!"....................................71"I Judged You Unfairly".......................................74"I Love You Lord!"............................................76"I May Not Get There With You!"...............................78"I Think I Made A Mistake?"...................................80"I Wish I Had Your Heart".....................................82"Janine"......................................................84"Job's Eyes"..................................................86"Late In the Midnight Hour!"..................................88"Locked Up But Never Locked Out!".............................91"Married to an Angel".........................................94"Meet My New Friends!"........................................96"Melodic Keys of My Heart"....................................98"Mother's Day"................................................101"Never Used!".................................................103"Nothing Is Like Being Your Self!"............................106"Talk To Me And Not At Me!"...................................110"The Holy Spirit Inside Of Me!"...............................112"The Music Continues!"........................................116"Ten Pillows".................................................118"The Time Has Come!"..........................................120"The Tiniest Teardrops!"......................................122"This Is Breaking My Heart!"..................................125"This Is The Pastor!".........................................127"Three Sides to a Triangle!"..................................130"Tracks"......................................................133"We Won!".....................................................135"When The Fun Stops And The Work Begins!".....................138"When You Get Old!"...........................................140"You Are Someone Special!"....................................144"You Were On My Heart!".......................................146

Chapter One

"A Beacon of Hope!"

With all of my heart and soul I want to give to you this letter of hope We live in a world of uncertainty but all is never lost when knowing the Lord Jesus Christ Everything has time written on it including the very life that we are living My desire is that you smile through your adversity and laugh whenever this life seems unfair Be inspired to hope again and believe that this time things will work out in your favor

My elders instructed me to teach this generation those things that they have taught me I stand firm on those ideologies that have stood the test of time It is impossible to build a legacy out of ignorance but for most of our days, we are not recreating My focus is on those things that are from above and not on the temporal things of this world Why are you inspiring to gain second place when you could strive to win the race

God is sending out signals from heaven to guide us through these troubling times The only way to hear, or to feel Him, you have to deny yourself and submit your all unto the Holy Spirit There are ditches on both sides of the road and if you are not focused one of them will swallow up your dreams In order to hope, you have to have something greater than yourself or your situation as your trusted source Look unto the hills from which comes your help, knowing that all of your help comes from the Lord

Could what just happened be a sign from God above and He wants you to continue to hope? Hope deferred is doubt and doubt becomes unbelief, and unbelief is not trusting in anyone or anything Work while it is day for when the night time comes no man shall work God ran ahead of me and prepared the way, and now I am instilling inside of you those beams of hope On tomorrow the sun will come up and with it comes another day to put your hope and trust in God

My prayer is that you receive this with an open heart and after you get it continue to trust in God God can if you trust Him and He will, if you continue to place your hope in Him Every tiny tree hopes to become full grown and you should have the desire to please your God I see you as a complete success because you fixed your heart on climbing the highest mountain There is no greater place in heaven or on this earth to put your hope than to hope in God

"15, 31, 47, 61"

These four sets of numbers are very significant; they are four generations of women with the same genealogy The great grandmother is the pillar of the family; she has given birth to some of the smartest children on earth In her younger days she fought against racial discrimination, and now she is seeing the results from years of suffering Never did she dream of voting for a black candidate, but in her heart she believed that it couldn't happen Now she can proudly sit on the porch, and tell yet another beautiful story to her great-grandchildren

The grandmother is a lady in every sense of the word, she has taught school for many decades The school board has given her numerous appreciation awards, and now she is getting ready to retire She worked longer in order to make up for the financial shortages; her husband got hurt and couldn't work Her generation had to hold on through the hard times, but just look at her now, she has made it She is also called the mother of the church; she has given her life to the Lord just to save the next generation

The mother is a woman who will fight you in a minute; she has been fighting different men all of her life They made her promises and soon after they broke them, on one occasion she was severely beaten The entire police department was searching for him; it was the hound dogs that made the gruesome discovery He had drowned himself in the river, because her family had put the word out on the street to bring him in She has never been the same since, and that tragedy has affected her relationships between her and her daughter

The daughter is just a teenager who is struggling to stay in school, because she is pregnant with the next generation The whole family is bent out of shape about it and Patricia has a big mountain to climb in a few days She might make it she might not, with a growing baby in her womb they can forget about the silver spoon We have to pray for her generation that less than 15 years her daughter would not become pregnant This is a sad day in our day and time, as hard as it is to put bread on the table the table is getting larger

"16, 26, 36, 46"

This may be the first time a man tracked his journey through life, starting from the age of 16 to 46 At the age of 16 I had already been working four years, it was my biological father who chose my first job God put a full grown man in charge of my life, and at any given time he would put down the big hand Either I did what he commanded and lived, or die early from refusing to obey a direct parental order At the age of 16 I didn't have the money to move out, so I did what he said and closed my mouth

Let us move forward 10 years into a young adults life, I am now 26 and a first time home owner I wasn't proud of having one child outside of wedlock, and his mother skipped out to live with her mother Now he's forced to fight a fight that nobody has ever won, added to the numbers is another fatherless child I think I covered that time in my life, just look up the poem entitle "My First Child" for a reference When a young adult male seeks out to have a family, every woman will not agree with his programs

Check out the adult male 10 more years later, he is now 36 and the youngest member of the city council What good is every male child if they are not on the front line, and having responsibilities that solidifies his being Every man is charged to work from day one, and when he dies he's required to leave a legacy for his children's children Why would one generation build up a great house, and the next generation loses focus and tears it down? At the ripe age of 36 I should have my feet on the ground, because two and a half decades is a long time

Now I am 46 years old with multiple gifts and talents, today I have the heart of a lion and the spirit of a lamb With God on my side I am never turning back because I have all power by faith through Jesus Christ What good are the men who will not fight and a man without Jesus Christ deep down inside of his heart? A mature adult still has a lot to look forward to other than gray hair and the absence of an abundance of money Out of all that I've been through I'm not mad at you, why am I mad at others for those things that have happened to me?

"365"

We got to give it our all or we are not going to make it at all From the day we said yes it seems like all we have seen is nothing but stormy weather What can we do when we have made a vow and those promises were meant to last for more than an hour? One day at a time for three hundred and sixty-five days, we have to love and support each other On some days I am the worse and she is the best and on tomorrow who knows how we would act

If this is love then what is hatred, because we have a mixture of both Some mornings I get a kiss before she leaves and on the others we fight like childhood kids Every day has challenges within themselves; I guess you can say we are in love We should have included this in our vows, if I loved you only two percent then I still love you Because on holidays, birthdays and our anniversary, I will make up for the ninety-eight percent shortage Now we are living through those ups and downs just like our parents we have to hang on in there They argued about everything but they never took off their wedding ring, which is the meaning of true love Sometimes it crackles and other times it pops, I guess things are okay as long as we don't stop Every day is a good day when we both come home, that is the silent answer to keeping our love strong Just like them we are the same; we are raising our kids and hoping that things will get better on tomorrow

The love we have could not last without the heavenly Father holding it all together As the seasons change our minds will remain the same, loving and supporting each other is our goal We are no better than other Christian couples, trouble, test, and trials have our address We look at them as God would and if God is our keeper then why should we worry We promised to pray for each other and when we pray God extends to us His favor

I give a little and I take a little in return, this way we both are equally married to each other If I give a gift then I better receive one, it could be from the dollar store but it is the thought that counts It is the love behind the thought that makes it special, as long as I am in your heart our love will never dissolve Marriage is a fun thing to be in and living with a woman who keeps today as hotter than the day before An entire year is a long time but when two people are in love all those days added up to something special

"An Ocean Apart"

Tonight, it is going to be hard to fall asleep; because the person in whom I have never met is across the Atlantic Ocean. I could only wonder what she is doing and what I would do if we were together. Deep inside of my mind she is taking up plenty of my mental space and it feels good to have a person to fill all four corners of my mind. All I can do is to pray for her well being and that the God of the heavens would bless every step that she takes. I was looking and thinking of the lady in the printed pictures and yes I took the time and framed all of her beauty until the day we finally come together. Plenty of wonderful thoughts flow through my mind whenever I am all alone and oh how I wish the time could push forward. What a day that will be to see her in person and all of my fantasizing would instantly dissipate.

Her pretty smile and the dimples that I have come to love they both will be in front of my face and her long pretty black hair would be falling in and out of place. Finally we will get the chance to take those long walks in the park, some in the day time and others after dark. We have talked on the phone and chatted over the internet for hours at a time and the focal point of our conversations is to one day come together. There is one thing we both know for sure and that this is the will of God, so we pray for each other daily so that our God will keep us totally safe. Written in one of my emails to her I mentioned that I wanted to wash her feet and if she is ticklish I would stop in an instant. My hands are strong but gentle and whenever she comes home I will give my baby a well-deserved foot message.

Will you look at me? I am getting lost within my own thoughts; it is going to be another four weeks before she touchdown in the states. Until then I really have a lot of cleaning up to do, I really want to make a lasting impression on the woman who might become my wife. Not that I am a snob but every man has some clutter inside of their home. Trust me; if I say it will be ready this house will be spotless. If I have to hire some help to reach my desired goal, then all of the extra cleaning will get done. A man like me cares how things look inside and outside, so I do what I have to do to get my home ready for the prettiest woman in the world. I have not felt this way since high school; she has captured the sensible person that has been hiding deep inside.

Get ready world here come the happiest couple that has ever lived and we will never allow anything to destroy the union that God has blessed. Together we will rewrite those definitions of the word "relationship" I respect her as my intellectual queen and she esteems me highly to be the future king who will lord over her world. It is a joy to feel the genuine love from every email and instant chat, along with an occasional telephone call just to hear her European accent. The first words I was blessed to hear her say were "Hello honey" and at that moment I thought I was going to lose my natural mind. Only God could bring together two people who are so passionate about finding true love. He has ordained our friendship from the beginning of time and through our prayerful commitment, we will grow into a loving couple.

Right now my heart is beating only for her and she is in every other thought that I think I can only hope that she is feeling the same about me. Her mental presence has already showed up in all of my prayers and when I am sitting in my favorite chair; the thought of her someday being here is the greatest thought ever. She is a beautiful woman inside and out and did I mention that she has the prettiest long black hair? I was blessed to download all of her pictures from her profile and each one of them instantly made me smile. What could a man do until the woman that he has grown fond of actually shows up. That moment will solidify all of the friendly communications that we have shared.

Every woman that I just so happen to see looks as fine as a glass of wine and I think it is because she has given me her heart. It is a natural feeling for me because I want to be committed to only one woman, but here comes the distractions trying to tempt me to mess me up before we get hooked up. Patience is one of the things I do have and I will never allow anything to draw me away from my girl. This is the time to focus on those things that are honest and true. She is a virtuous woman who has expressed ninety-nine percent of her intentions towards me, so then it would be foolish of me to ever jeopardize the relationship that I have dreamed of. To have and to hold only one woman would be a delight and to show her all of the wonderful things a real man could bring into her life.

Many of my relationships have grown sour over a short period of time, but who would dare say that it will happen this time. As long as we love to be in love it will continue to grow and grow, we have to cultivate our relationship daily in order to keep out the weeds and the crab grass. An intellectual person knows exactly what the meaning of true love is and they will never let anything come in between the love that God has joined together. Through many prayers and an occasional fast, we will live the lives that God intended and forsaking all others but not severing any lines of communication between our family and close friends.

If it wasn't for all of that water that is physically separating us, I could schedule a fabulous evening for two people who are trying to go places. I would have planned plenty of pretty things for her and a few masculine things for myself. Some people think that every date is just another event and at the end of the night it will end up just like all the others. Every person is obviously different, then why shouldn't every date have its own distinctiveness? Our characters should lead us into moments that have never been explored and not back to those occasions that have lead to boredom and emotional headaches. Let go of those awful dates and failed relationships, and move forward into the future of loving and being in love.

That is enough information about me and now let's gets back to the story. I truly hope that you are enjoying this love story as much as I am. Presently, these are my intimate thoughts about the woman of my future, am I allowed to think ahead when I am satisfied with all of the things she has said? If, I had my way I would be with her, but that is the old me talking out loud and I think that is why I am still single today. The old me would have thought of a million ways to get my hands on her body and I would have destroyed another perfectly good relationship. I would have free styled across the Atlantic Ocean but I would have eventually sunk, I could have walked across the ocean but you and I know that I wouldn't get very far. I could row, row, and row a boat but how far would I really get? I am open for all suggestions and some people have said; I should just get on a chartered boat, even that method would take too long. There is a faster way known to man, but who has the extra money to pay for a plane ticket?

All of my past relationships failed because of improper communication, she looked good and I was as handsome as ever, but two people have to communicate sometimes. Currently we are doing the total opposite; we would have talked for two months without even touching. This time I believe this is God who has orchestrated our meeting. A large quantity of her words have God in them and then she took the time to give God the praise, and I am in the same agreement that God is bringing us closer and closer together.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from A Beacon of Hopeby Reveral L. Yeargin Copyright © 2012 by Reveral L. Yeargin. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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